ST. PETERSBURG, June 1. /TASS/. Norwegian authorities have good ground for approving Gazprom’s proposal on the purchase of a 38.5% stake in OMV (Norge) AS, a Norwegian subsidiary of Austria’s OMV, Russian Minister of Natural Resources Sergei Donskoi told TASS on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2017) on Thursday.

"We insist that Gazprom could acquire a stake in the Austrian company. I think the Norwegian authorities have good ground for making a positive decision. We’ve discussed it with experts, but as of now Norway is still considering (the proposal) and has not provided a final response yet," he said.

Earlier Donskoi said that Norwegian authorities had suggested that Gazprom applied to the country’s respective agencies on the matter of acquiring a stake in the company.

Gazprom reached a binding asset swap agreement with Austria’s OMV in December 2016. The agreement stipulates that Gazprom will receive 38.5% in OMV (Norge) AS, the Norwegian subsidiary of OMV.